11/29/03: So Thanksgiving is over, thank goodness. Thanksgiving has got to be my least favorite holiday; none of the meal appeals to my strict tastes, so I dine on rolls and salad, the smell of turkey cooking grosses me out, and I do NOT like being obligated to be with my family. Plus, as I told my roommate recently, I have issues with the ideological underpinnings of the entire holiday. Yes, I am evil and extremely un-American. Get over it.

All that said, I do of course love having a day off of work (for once!), and our bosses let us go early on Wednesday AND on Friday (we get either the day after Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas off; I am planning for a long weekend over Christmas).

Wednesday was even better because I had an interview! I can't remember if I mentioned the AmeriCorps jobs that I found last month and applied for. Well, since it had been a month, I had given up on it, no big deal. But I got a call at work on Monday to set up a phone interview. It seemed to go pretty well, and it got me all excited and happy

11/12/03: After I finished Live from New York, I read My Antonia. which I understand to be rather a standard in educational reading. My other foray into this field (Catcher in the Rye, which I did not like at all, as it had no discernable plot) made me skeptical, but I quite liked it. The story reminded me of Giants in the Earth, with the whole breaking of virgin land thing. It's thrilling to imagine all the toil and struggle they endured, and to imagine if you, the reader, would have been capable. And it's one of those books, like Prayer for Owen Meany, where the narrator, though ostensibly the center of the story, has no real personality, nothing to draw you to them. Their existence is to acquaint you with the titular character, who is often unforgettable and epic in their own way. You only remember them as being in love with or being friends with or just generally admiring of the real lead character. Anyway. I liked the book.

Well, it's happened at long last, I have a forty-hour work week! I like it. I am still busy, of course, but things have worked out so that I am no longer just barely keeping up, it's the reverse now; my processors can hardly keep up with me. Plus, my phone is almost silent. I clear my desk constantly. Which is nice, to not be drowning in files, but it makes me want a big, busy project.
Outside of work, I have enough time to work out in the evenings, eat some green beans, watch tv, AND relax a little. I need to work on weekends, because I tend to polarize--I go, go, go, nonstop, or I do nothing at all. Must work on more of a compromise of the two. But I am feeling more about my life, because I feel more in control of it.